


Princes and Paupers Have Different Problems and Switching Places Only Solves Some of Them

by AntagonizedPenguin



Series: How Best to Use a Sword [20]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Down to Earth Commoner, M/M, Prostitution, Spoiled Royalty, Switching Places, Uncle/Nephew Incest, gangbangs, nonconsensual bondage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26573482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntagonizedPenguin/pseuds/AntagonizedPenguin
Summary: Niall is the prince of Neshez, heir apparent to the whole kingdom. And someone wants to kill him.Russ is a commoner, living day to day in the city, just getting by. And taking five clients a night as a prostitute.They probably should have told each other a bit more about themselves before deciding to switch places for a week.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: How Best to Use a Sword [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/309633
Comments: 78
Kudos: 46





	1. Princes and Paupers Have Different Problems and Switching Places Only Solves Some of Them

**Author's Note:**

> As a special thing for Pride month back in June, I ran a poll so my readers could decide on a new entry into this series, and the concept that won was that of a prince and commoner switching places for a week! Mind the tags for future content, and I hope you guys enjoy Niall and Russ's adventure in seeing how the other half lives!

Niall was peeing against a tree when a man came and tried to kill him. 

The murderer wasn’t the first man who came and bothered him. The first was a servant, a man with a close-shaven head named Aldous or Adrian or maybe Harry? Niall wasn’t sure, there were a lot of servants and they were all pretty much the same. “Your Majesty,” he said, clearing his throat just beside Niall, who jumped a little, getting some pee on his hands. “You can’t do that here. It’s unbecoming.” 

Niall scowled, turned to the side a little to hide himself even if maybe-Aldous’s eyes were politely on Niall’s frizzy hair. “I can do whatever I want,” he said. It wasn’t as though he peed outside all the time. He just _really_ had to go, and the privy inside was _really_ far away.

“Be that as it may, your Majesty,” the servant droned on, “your father will be most displeased if he finds out you’ve been…”

Before Niall could hear the end of the sentence—not that he’d been listening anyway, all that would happen would be that his whipping boy Sally got maybe five extra hits with the whip tonight, he’d barely even feel it—the servant said “Look out!” and jumped on Niall, which was _so very_ inappropriate, Niall would have his job for this, he thought, as he fell into the bushes. 

“What are you doing?” Niall demanded, sitting up and brushing snow off his clothes. The servant was prone on top of him and…he was… “Ah!” He was bleeding, something metal in his neck. A small arrow. He also wasn’t moving. “Help!”

Niall looked around for that help, but it wasn’t coming. What was coming was a man with a crossbow. Niall waved at him. “Help, over here! Someone’s…oh.” He wasn’t dressed like a castle guard. And he was loading his crossbow. And he was aiming it at Niall. And—

Niall got up and ran, jumping over the body of the servant, trying to get to the castle. “Help!” he shouted. “Someone help, he’s trying to kill me!”

Who was this guy? Why would he want to kill Niall? Well, it must be because Niall was the king’s son and heir apparent to all of Neshez and someone wanted to make sure he didn’t end up king someday. Some crazy person obviously, who didn’t have anything in his life and had to take it out on Niall and the whole kingdom. Or, no. No citizen would be so foolish as to kill their own crown prince. It must be some foreign power, maybe G’Ablyn, they’d been growing restless lately because of…

Niall tripped, fell to the ground with a yelp. As he looked up, another of those short arrows buried itself in the snow right in front of him. He scrambled to his feet and ran again, trying to do up his pants as he did. 

Mercifully, Niall made it to the castle. “Help!’ he shouted to the lazy guards leaning beside the triangular front doors. “Help, someone’s trying to kill me! He’s right…” there was nobody there when Niall turned, but he wasn’t going to be fooled. “Raise the alarm! There’s a killer in the castle grounds!”

The two guards looked at each other, and one of them went running. Niall went inside, and a moment later, everyone seemed to be blowing horns. He had to go warn his father. If they were trying to kill Niall, it was an act of war. Father would need to raise the armies, to prepare to sail to G’Ablyn and kill Queen Marina personally in exchange for this insult, and…

Niall ran headlong into someone. “Get out of my way!”

“Hey.” Strong hands took him by the shoulders. “What’s wrong, Niall?”

Niall blinked, his panic subsiding. His uncle Nolan, a tall, reassuring man with a trimmed beard who was a stalwart advisor to Niall’s father, always knew what to do. “A man with a crossbow just tried to kill me,” he explained, trying not to talk too fast. Uncle Nolan always said he talked too fast. “He was just, he was just there on the grounds and he had a crossbow and he tried to _kill_ me, Uncle Nolan!”

“Okay, it’s okay, Niall,” Nolan said, hugging Niall tight. He always hugged Niall this way, one hand on his shoulder and one on his butt, to keep him in place. Niall was too old for hugs, but he was shaken and scared. “Come with me.”

“Wh-where?” Niall had the hiccups now, and tried to get them under control as he let his uncle lead him down a side passage. 

“Somewhere safe. If there were killers after you, there could be more in the castle. We need to get you out of here.” 

“But…the castle’s the safest place in Hazent,” Niall protested. Everyone knew Castle Falv had never fallen. 

“Not today,” Nolan told him, leading Niall out through a servants’ door. “If they’ve already made it past the outer walls, then they must have had help from someone inside the palace complex. Listen. You’re going to need to go over to the wall and find the spot where the hydrangeas climb up it. If you move the plants aside you’ll find a gap in the wall. You mustn’t ever tell anyone about it; it’s a secret entrance.” 

Niall was blown away. “Why is there a secret entrance?”

“In case anyone in your family ever needs to escape,” Nolan told him with a smile. “Or sneak out. Your father and I snuck out of the castle when we were your age and spent a week pretending to be commoners. Your grandmother was furious with us.” 

“Wow…” That sounded…well, scary. But also fun. Niall had never left Castle Falv. 

“You’re going to need to go out there, Niall,” Nolan told him, pushing Niall out the door. “Go out and pretend to be a commoner for a few hours. Come back tonight once everything is calmed down and we’re sure it’s safe.” 

“O…okay,” Niall said. “But what if I get in trouble out there?”

“You won’t. You’re a prince. The people love you.” Nolan smiled at him. “It’ll be fine. And you need to see the kingdom you’re going to rule someday, right?”

“I…I guess so.” Niall nodded. “Okay. I’ll come back tonight. You’ll tell Father, right?”

“Of course. Go on, you can leave the palace to me.” 

“Thank you, Uncle,” Niall said, hugging Nolan one last time. And then, taking a deep breath, he darted out of the castle, hurrying across the grounds.

Nobody harassed him, and the man with the crossbow didn’t come back. The horns were still blowing, and Niall was almost grateful when he got to the wall, found the hydrangeas. Hand shaking, he pushed them aside, and there was the gap in the wall, just like Nolan had said! He looked back at the castle one last time, smiling. He could do this. He was the future king of Neshez! 

Niall pushed through the gap, left his home behind, and ventured into the world below his. 

There were more plants on the other side of the wall, heavier ones that were harder to push aside, but Niall did, breaking free on the other side of the wall. He tried to put the plants back where they’d been, so nobody would try to sneak into the castle. 

And then Niall turned to face his city. 

Hazent was a city on a hill, and Castle Falv was at the top of the hill. Hazent spread out eastward, the plains beyond the walls visible from here, and Niall took a second to look at it. He’d never seen it from this angle before, only from on top of a castle tower. It was a maze of red and green rooves built in a rough spiral, which had once been less rough before the city had started to grow. 

Niall looked at it for a second—his people, someday, lived there—and went down to explore. The bells were ringing at his back, and they only got a little quieter as he got farther away. 

The city was all the things Niall had assumed it would be. There were streets with cobblestones cleared of the snow, and people walking back and forth between the houses, and horses and carts and dogs! He never saw dogs except for the ones that patrolled the castle, but there were dogs and even some cats on leashes walking with people. As he got farther away from the castle, the buildings got smaller and more cramped, and he supposed these must be where the poor people lived. Everything was a bit dirtier, but the people seemed happy. There were children playing over there, not worried about the warning bells in the castle. He found a market, which was so amusing to wander around for a while. Everything was for sale, bread and fabric and weapons and birds and _everything._ Niall should have brought some coins so he could buy something just for fun. He’d never bought anything before. 

He spent a long time in the market asking the shopkeepers about their wares. After the market were some more streets, and Niall started to get bored and his feet started to hurt a little, so he looked for somewhere to sit down and couldn’t find one. He was starting to get hungry too, but what was he supposed to eat? 

It was starting to get dark and the bells had stopped ringing. Niall should head back to the castle. This had been fun, but now that he understood what the city was like he should go home and wash off before he…

Hm. Niall didn’t know how to get back. It shouldn’t be that hard, since the castle was on the hill. He could see it right there, The Great Ziggurat behind it, fires burning on the top. It all seemed much farther away than it should be, but he’d just head towards the hill. Except this street didn’t go that way. Hm. 

“Get out of the way, kid,” someone grunted, pushing Niall aside. 

“Hey!” Niall protested, falling backwards into some dirty snow. He stood up, shivering, intending to tell the man off, but he was already gone, leading a horse with a lot of bags on it by the reins. He must be a foreigner, Niall thought. Nobody else would be that rude. 

Niall decided to forgive him, and went backwards, trying to find his way back to the castle. He went down another road, walking carefully because the cobblestones were slippery, and smelled meat. His stomach growled, and he decided that it was okay to dally just a little bit. He went towards the source of the smell, found a stall where a woman was selling dumplings. He was so hungry. 

So he went up the stall and took one of the dumplings, which was on a stick so he didn’t burn his hand. “Three pennies,” the woman said as he picked it up, giving Niall a stern look. She had mean, beady little eyes and two chins. 

Niall blinked. “I don’t have any coins.” 

“Then you don’t have any food.” 

“But I’m really hungry!”

“Too bad, this isn’t a charity, kid. There’s a soup kitchen down the road if you’re hard up, but get lost.” 

Niall glared at the woman. “You can’t speak to me like that. I’m Prince Niall hee-Minda of the kingdom of Neshez, and…”

“Yeah, and I’m the king’s barber. Fuck off, kid.” 

“You…” Niall felt anger rise in him. “I’ll have you arrested for this.” 

“You put that dumpling down right now or you’re the one’ll be in trouble, kid.” 

“You wouldn’t dare.” 

The ugly woman snorted, and a big hand wrapped around Niall’s wrist. “Put it down, kid.” The man who’d grabbed him had on a dirty uniform, so he must be a city guard. 

Good. Niall nodded. “I am not a child.”

“He’s the crown prince,” the woman told him, smirking. 

“Oh, is he now? How special.” The guard rolled his eyes. “Even princes have to pay. Put the dumpling down or you’re getting a spanking just like everyone else, your Highness.” 

“You…you’re a disgrace to your uniform!” Niall told the guard. “I’ll have you exiled for this! You can’t treat me this…”

The guard suddenly staggered, then let go of Niall, spinning around. “Who did that?”

Niall bolted, not wanting to be here when the guard’s attention came back to him. “Hey!”

He didn’t pay attention, he just ran as fast as he could towards the castle. He didn’t like the city. Poor people were rude and unpleasant and everything was dirty and cramped and stupid and he hated…

Niall ran headlong into someone, but didn’t fall down this time. “Get out of my way!”

“Hey,” said a young voice. He looked up, and there was a boy about his age, holding a dumpling on a stick. “You okay?”

“I…” Niall had tears in his eyes. “I just want to go home. Everyone here is so mean.” 

The boy smiled, handed him the dumpling. “Yeah, this is a bit of a stuck-up neighbourhood. If you go south a little where there aren’t any rich people, people are a lot more friendly.” 

Niall blinked. “R-really?” He was pretty sure there weren’t any rich people here. This was the dirtiest part of the city he’d seen yet. 

“Sure. Come on, I can show you if you want.” 

“I want to go _home_ ,” Niall protested. 

“Okay.” The boy shrugged. “Where do you live? I know this city like the tip of my own cock.” 

That was...a colourful colloquialism Niall was unfamiliar with. He chose to ignore it. “The castle,” Niall said, pointing at it. 

The boy laughed. “Okay.” 

Oh. He didn’t believe Niall. Of course he didn’t. Why would any of these commoners know to recognize the prince when they met him? Maybe this boy would be rude to him too if he found out who Niall was. “Nevermind,” Niall muttered. “I can go myself.” 

“You shouldn’t go that way,” the boy said, taking his hand. “It’s dangerous to go near Yart’s Square at night and you’ll just get in trouble for lying anyway. Come on, I’m skiving off work tonight anyway, we can hang out for a while. I’m Russ.” 

“I’m Pr…Niall. I’m Niall.” Russ seemed a lot nicer than anyone else he’d met down here. Even if he was an idiot, he was worried for Niall’s safety. 

“Come on, Niall. And eat that, you look really hungry.” 

Niall _was_ really hungry, so he ate the dumpling as they walked. It tasted funny, but he kind of liked it, he thought. Russ led him down narrow streets, until all the streets seemed narrow. Niall could hear music playing, and people laughing. There were no cobblestones here, just dirt roads. Laundry was hung on lines between the buildings. It was all really…quaint, Niall thought. It was what he’d thought the city would be like. Maybe he’d just visited the wrong parts, was all.

“So where are you from?” Russ asked, hands behind his head as they went. 

“Uh…over there somewhere,” Niall said, to avoid lying. He gestured vaguely behind them. 

“You’re lost?” Russ looked at him. “Or did you run away?”

“I…ran away,” Niall admitted. He felt weirdly guilty about that. Maybe he should have stayed in the castle and done something. “I have to go back, though.” 

“You in trouble back there?” 

His father was going to be _furious_ with him when he got back. He always got mad when Niall did things he wasn’t meant to. “Probably.” 

“Me too.” Russ shrugged. Niall doubted that any trouble he could get in was as serious as the trouble he himself would be in if he didn’t come home. What kind of trouble could someone with no responsibilities get in? “It’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Sure I do. Dicking off for one night isn’t going to kill anyone.” When Niall giggled at the crass word, Russ poked his side. “There’s your smile. You know if you don’t want to go back, you can stay here. Lots of places to sleep.” As they walked, he swiped a pastry from another stall, split it in half and gave one to Niall.

That sounded very nice, actually. He could stay here, find out what those people were laughing about, listen to that music. The city wasn’t so bad now that he was in the friendlier part of it. This pastry was so delicious, he didn’t even mind how sticky it was making his fingers. He could find a fire and sleep near it and watch the stars and… “I can’t,” Niall said with a sigh. “I have to go home.” 

Russ shrugged. “If you say so. I mean, I do too, I guess. Eventually.” 

“No, I really have to go home,” Niall explained. Russ was probably some stableboy or scullion or something. It wasn’t like anyone was going to miss him. Niall didn’t have that luxury. “I’m…I’m the crown prince, Russ.”

Russ blinked, snorting again. “Okay.”

“No, I really am,” Niall said, grabbing Russ’s hand to stop him in the street. “I can’t just wander around the city forever. I have to go home or the kingdom won’t have an heir.” 

Frowning now, Russ tilted his head. “You do, uh. Have kind of a rich voice, now that I’m listening to you.” 

Niall had a normal voice, but he nodded. “I came down here to…” he shouldn’t tell a commoner that someone had tried to kill him and his father. It shouldn’t get around that the royal family was vulnerable. They were a symbol of hope and power to the people of Neshez, and if Niall let it slip that they could be hurt, the kingdom could suffer. “To explore the city. To see what the citizens live like. But I can’t stay forever.”

Russ was looking at him really funny. “You’re really…telling the truth, aren’t you? You really are the prince.”

“Yes, why would I lie about that?” Niall asked, raising his voice a little. “Of course I am.” 

“Huh. That must be so cool!” Russ said, grinning. “You get to live in the castle and eat whenever you want and have servants who do whatever you say and everything!” 

“I guess,” Niall sighed. Trust a commoner to only think of the superficial things. “But you get to go wherever you like, and see interesting things and sleep wherever you want.” He could probably pee wherever he wanted, too. Niall doubted anyone ever told Russ what to do. 

Russ chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. Still. I’d trade with you if I could.”

Niall paused, looking at Russ. “Hey.” 

“What? Don’t worry, I’m not going to like kidnap you or anything. You seem really nice. I’m glad you’re going to be the king someday.” 

“No,” Niall said, looking closer. Russ…looked a lot like him, actually. Like, a _lot_ like him. Niall saw his own face in the mirror most mornings, and he was pretty sure. If Russ washed his hair, maybe put some eye makeup on, and dressed in Niall’s clothes…

Plus, Niall thought, if the killers came back to the castle to get him and killed Russ instead, the kingdom wouldn’t suffer. It would be sad if Russ died, since he was friendly, but he wasn’t important, so it wouldn’t be as sad as if Niall died.

Niall broke into a grin, taking Russ’s dirty hands in his. “Hey,” he said. “I have a _great_ idea.”


	2. It Is A Well Known Fact Among Normal People that Rich People Are Fucked up

Castle Falv was so _big,_ and everything in it was so _fancy_ and _expensive_ and Russ had never seen _anything_ like it! 

They’d known it would be all fancy and awesome, because it was a castle, and everyone knew that was what castles were like, but they hadn’t realized exactly how _rich_ rich people really were. And Niall’s family were the richest rich people who had ever been rich, which was probably why they were the kings and queens of Neshez. There was a whole long hallway in the castle that was just full of big paintings of them all glaring. Russ couldn’t imagine why anyone would glare if they lived here, but maybe they’d all just hated having to pose for portraits. 

They kept getting lost in the castle because it was so big, but other than that, there was really no downside at all to living here. They’d slept in Niall’s bed last night and it had been the softest, squishiest bed they’d ever felt. Niall’s clothes were all so smooth it was like wearing water; even his smallclothes were made of silk. 

Russ had jerked off into four different pairs of Niall’s smallclothes since last night. They probably wouldn’t tell Niall about that when they saw him again—Niall was a bit prissy and hadn’t even wanted to change clothes in the same space as Russ in case Russ looked at him naked. He had caved and agreed to change back-to-back only when Russ had convinced him that his plan, which had involved Russ getting naked, giving Niall their clothes and then waiting for Niall to come back with _his_ clothes for Russ to change into, would mean that important parts of Russ would probably fall off in the cold. So yeah, Russ definitely wouldn’t tell Niall that they’d jerked off into every pair of his silk smallclothes, but they were definitely going to do it. Niall wouldn’t even notice, there were like twenty people in the castle whose whole job was to do laundry. There was probably someone who was specifically there to wash Niall’s smallclothes. 

Russ felt a bit bad for giving them all that extra work, but hey, at least they were making their job more interesting this week. 

But yeah, overall being a prince was pretty awesome. Russ would definitely keep doing it if they could. And they were clearly pretty good at it—they’d had supper with the king just now and had called him Father like a fancy person, and King Nicol had just nodded politely while he’d listened to Russ talk about their day and never seemed to notice the difference. It was kind of nuts that he wouldn’t notice that someone was pretending to be his kid right under his nose, but Russ guessed he was too busy being the king to pay much attention. Niall’s uncle seemed to pay Niall more attention than his dad did, but he’d had to run off after supper for some important errand, which was fine with Russ. They’d had enough hugs today.

They were on their way back to Niall’s rooms for the night, having been told very sternly by several butlers that it was time for bed. Russ just kind of hadn’t listened to them, sneaking down to the kitchen to have more supper—Niall’s uncle had gotten them to stop eating after a bit because it was unbecoming of a prince to gorge himself, or something, but Russ had really liked whatever that fancy meat had been and wanted more of it, so they’d gotten themself three more helpings after, and an extra dessert. The guys who worked in the kitchen were pretty friendly and seemed more like the people Russ knew in real life than anyone else they’d met here. Then they’d wandered around the castle for a bit and gone up to the towers to look at the city. Hazent was really pretty at night, especially the East Quarter, which was full of colourful lamps that were pretty from the ground but really spectacular from up here at the very top. And the Great Ziggurat was _huge_ up close like this. 

More people had told them they should go to bed, but nobody could really tell a prince what to do, it turned out, so Russ just hadn’t. But now they were kind of tired and were on their way back. They were going to sleep butt naked in Niall’s silk sheets and it was going to be _awesome._

When they got to Niall’s room, there were two people in it. “Hi,” they said. One of them was a servant of Niall’s named Sally, who Russ had met briefly last night and who’d helped Russ get dressed this morning. The other one was some guy they didn’t know, who was holding a whip. That was weird. “Uh, what’s going on?”

“It’s time for your punishment, your Majesty,” the man with the whip said. Sally looked even more sad than he had in the morning, but in a resigned way, like how some of Russ’s friends looked when they got stuck with the Mint brothers for a night.

“What punishment?” Nobody could punish a prince, that was the whole point of being a prince. 

The man pointed to the ceiling. “You weren’t paying attention to your tutor today and were dismissive of him when he scolded you.” 

Russ blinked. There had been some lessons with a guy named Herman. Russ hadn’t really had any idea what had been going on during them—something about the formation of the Bet-Haren Alliance and a book Russ literally could not have read because they couldn’t read, and then some math that Russ hadn’t understood at all but had faked until it was time to leave. They thought they’d fooled the tutor, but oh well. “Sorry. I’ll do better tomorrow.”

The man seemed a bit surprised at that, and so did Sally. But the man went on, holding up two fingers now. “You’ve stayed up far past your bedtime, despite being instructed numerous times to go to sleep.” 

“It’s not that late, though,” Russ protested. They were up all night most of the time. And sure, maybe it was late for Niall, but it wasn’t like Niall was a _baby_. Why did he even have a bedtime, anyway? 

“And of course, you ran away yesterday, causing your father the king great distress,” the man finished, holding up a third finger. “All in all you’ve earned thirty strokes.” 

“What?” That was insane. Thirty hits with a whip because they’d stayed up late and been bad at math? Why would anyone do that? “You can’t do that, I’m a prince, remember? My father will cut your hands off or something.” 

The man gave an amused smile. “Indeed. He is, of course, the one who instructed me to punish you, your Majesty.” 

What kind of psychopath did that to their own kid? Russ had seen some fucked up shit over in the East Quarter, and yes, some of it was worse than this, like the guy who’d eaten one of his kids because a cat had told him to, but that guy had gotten hung! And people who did shit like whip their kids for no reason got beaten up! 

But nobody was going to beat up the king. Was this why Niall had wanted to leave so badly? Suddenly Russ got it. “Okay fine,” they said. Clearly there was no way out of this. “But this is fucked up and you’re fucked up for doing it.” 

Sally was looking at Russ like he’d never seen them before, which to be fair, they had not until last night. The man nodded. “I shall add two lashes for being rude to me, which you’ve been told not to do. Let’s begin.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Russ said, approaching. They stopped when Sally turned, taking his shirt off to face the man. “What are you doing?”

The man hit Sally with the whip. And then did it again. And again. “Hey!” Russ said, storming over. They pulled Sally to the side, out of range of the whip. “What the shit are you doing?”

The man just looked confused now. “I have already explained, I am punishing you for your…”

“Yeah, I heard that part,” Russ growled. “Why are you whipping Sally? He didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“He’s your whipping boy,” the man said. Now he just sounded angry. “You know this, your Majesty, and playing the fool isn’t going to change anything. Now you will watch as he is whipped—if you feel so bad for him, perhaps you can behave better tomorrow to spare him from this.” 

“Fuck that,” Russ said, stepping away. Sally didn’t say anything, but he let Russ move him. Russ turned around, took their shirt off. “I’m the one who fucked up. You can whip me if it gets you off.” It wasn’t like it would be the first time someone had gotten off whipping them. 

“Your Majesty, you will cease being so crass and step aside…”

“I will fucking not,” Russ snapped, keeping their back to the whip guy, and staying in between him and Sally. “Whip me or get out.” 

The man gripped the whip hard, and Russ could see that he wanted to do it, wanted to hit Russ. But he wouldn’t, because he thought Russ was Niall. And sure enough, he put the whip down, stepping back. “Your royal father will be hearing about this, your Majesty.” 

“Good,” said Russ. “Because he’ll be hearing about the boner you popped at the idea of whipping me, too.” 

In an irate cloud, the guy left Niall’s room, slamming the door behind him. Russ sighed. “Are you okay?” they asked Sally, turning him around. He was a cute little guy with wavy hair and green eyes, a button nose and puffy cheeks. There were some pink marks on his back, but they weren’t too terrible. There were also, now that Russ was looking, a lot of older marks too, and that made them angry. 

“I’m…fine, your Majesty,” Sally said, voice a little squeak. “You didn’t…have to do that.”

“Of course I did,” Russ growled. “They can’t hit you just because I sucked at being a prince today.” 

“But…they can. It’s my job…”

Russ shook their head. “Not anymore. I’m not going to let them hit you anymore.” 

“Are you…displeased with my service, your Majesty?” Sally asked, looking like he might cry. 

Russ sighed. They’d thought Niall was a bit of a shitball, but not in a bad way. Maybe they’d been wrong about that. It made them feel a little less bad about the things they’d forgotten to tell him. “No. You’re awesome, Sally,” they said. They didn’t know Sally at all. “I’m going to promote you.” 

“Pr-promote me?”

Russ nodded. “You’re going to be my…uh, what’s the word. You know, personal servant guy who helps me put my shoes on and stuff.” 

“Your…valet?” Sally asked. 

“Yeah, that. You’re going to be that and nobody’s going to whip you anymore.” 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to…”

“I’m a prince, I’m allowed to do whatever I want,” Russ said. They smiled. “You want to stay here tonight? I’ll make sure nobody whips you.” 

“I share a cot in the servants’ quarters…” Sally muttered.

“You can go there if you want,” Russ promised. “Or you can stay here and sleep with me in my huge, comfortable, soft bed with its fancy silk sheets. And you can eat a big fancy breakfast with me in the morning and we’ll have a bath in the huge bathtub in there and have lots of bubbles and stuff.” 

“That…” Sally swallowed. He looked confused, and a bit suspicious. He must really not think Niall was nice enough to do this. When Niall came back from his journey downhill, Russ was going to pummel some decency into him, assuming nobody else had managed it first. “Okay. That sounds fun.” 

“Great,” Russ said, grinning. They took off the rest of Niall’s clothes, crawled onto the bed. “You should get naked if you want. The sheets feel awesome against your skin. Sally?” Sally was staring at him, specifically at Russ’s cock. 

He looked up at Russ. “You’re not the prince.”

“Course I am.” 

Sally shook his head. “I thought you were acting weird. But you’re not him. I’ve seen you…seen Prince Niall’s dick before. He’s not circumcised.” 

Russ looked down at their cock, blinking, then back up at Sally. “Really?”

“No. I’m sure of it.” 

“Fuck,” Russ said, sitting back. They smiled at Sally. “I didn’t hurt him or anything. I promise he’s okay.”

“I don’t…really care if he’s okay,” Sally whispered, hugging himself. “I hate him.” 

“Yeah.” That wasn’t surprising after what Russ had just learned. “How about you come in bed with me and I’ll explain everything. You can keep a secret, right?” 

Sally promised he could, and by the end of the night he’d also promised to help Russ pass as Niall for the rest of the week. Russ fell asleep holding Sally between the silk sheets, pretty confident that they were going to get away with this.


	3. It Is A Well Known Fact Amongst Rich People that Poor People Have Easy Lives and No Real Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Niall learns who he switched lives with.

Niall was having so much _fun_ being a peasant. 

Last night he’d slept in a crowded building with a whole bunch of other people in it, and some of them had even been _touching_ him by accident because everyone was so close together! And then he’d lined up with a bowl and gotten some porridge that had raisins in it that had been so hot it had burned his mouth and so rich he’d felt queasy and hadn’t been able to finish it. 

There’d been a whole room where all the men and boys had been getting naked to wash up, but Niall had had his morning bath yesterday before he’d left the palace and he didn’t want to get naked in front of a bunch of ruffians, so he hadn’t. Besides, peasants smelled bad and Niall didn’t, so he should really avoid baths for at least a few days to help him fit in better. 

After he’d left the shelter Niall had spent the day walking around the East Quarter. He’d gone in some shops and looked at their wares, and then walked all the way to the city walls and back! He’d wanted to climb them and see his city, but the parapets were guarded and he knew poor people had to stay stuck on the ground where they belonged. So he’d headed back into the city, and just after noon he’d watched a bunch of people playing portal ball in a square for a long while. He’d never seen a portal ball game but he’d read about them, and he’d always thought they’d sounded boring and confusing. He’d been right about that—whatever had been happening hadn't made any sense so it wasn’t really worth paying attention to, but there had been a lady handing out cups of hot soup for free to people who watched the game, so Niall had stayed to watch for a while so he could have some. One of the players had come and asked Niall to play with them, calling him by Russ’s name, but Niall had refused. It didn’t look hard and he was sure he’d be good at it, but he didn’t really want to take most of his clothes off like the other players had done. 

After the portal ball game he’d gone to rest in a small park, where he’d sat under a tree until his butt got cold watching people and listening to the conversations they were having about their parents who were sick or how expensive meat was or how they needed new boots. It was all very quaint and silly, the things that poor people cared about. He never heard a single person talk about anything important like the trade agreements with Deinland or the encroaching Imperial presence on their shores or the royal family’s generosity in leading them all into an era of prosperity. And so Niall decided, sitting under that tree, that when he was king he would make medicine and meat and boots free, so that poor people could just have them and start worrying about things that mattered instead. 

Having decided that, he got up and found a tree to pee behind, and nobody told him he couldn’t. Being a peasant was really easy. Maybe it was easier for Niall than it was for other people, since he actually had a hard life, but still. He didn’t see what the big deal was. 

The sun was starting to go down, so Niall was heading back for that shelter from before, saying crass words under his breath to help him practice sounding more like a poor person. He didn’t quite remember where it was, but Russ had told him that this part of the East Quarter wasn’t that big, so all he had to do was keep going until he found the building with the red lintel post. 

It was a bit harder to find anything as it got dark, especially when all the lamps started to come on. They were all kinds of colours instead of normal lamp colours, and people were just lighting them on their own whenever they wanted instead of letting lamp-lighting people do it for them. They were kind of garish and silly and they painted the sides of the buildings in all kinds of colours that made it really hard to find where he was going. 

Niall actually liked the colours to look at. They were quaint. But they were also making Niall get lost. And he was hungry now, his stomach growling. Maybe he should ask for directions. That would mean talking to someone though, and that had gone badly when he’d tried it before. But maybe it would be better if people thought he were Russ. 

After another fruitless ten minutes of searching, Niall gave up. He’d ask someone. He looked around the street, trying to find someone who didn’t look mean or smelly. After a second he settled on a pretty girl just about his age with a net in her hair. “Excuse me,” he said, proud of himself for remembering to be polite since she thought he wasn’t important. 

The girl looked at him, giving a bit of a smile. “Hey, Russ.” 

Oh wow, everyone seemed to know Russ. He had a lot of friends, which must be annoying when he wanted to spend time alone. Niall had thought about what to say in case any of them asked about something Niall didn’t know, so he was confident he could pull this off. “Hi,” he said, smiling back in a way that he thought looked like how Russ smiled, which was tough because the real Russ mostly looked like he didn’t care how he looked, so though he’d practiced that too, it might look too much like he had.

“I don’t have any money on me right now,” she told him, even though Niall hadn’t asked for money. She obviously didn’t think his smile looked wrong, so Niall must have done well. “And you know Lloyd wouldn’t like that.” 

Niall nodded as if he knew who that was. “That’s okay, I don’t want any money. I’m trying to find my way to the, uh, shelter with the red lintel post? You know the one, right?”

The girl blinked at him. “You’re looking for Mallory’s? Why?”

“Oh,” said Niall, glad that he got to use the excuse he’d planned earlier. “I slipped on some ice and banged my head earlier, so I’m a bit confused is all.” 

“Are you okay?” the girl asked, looking worried. “Does your head hurt?”

“Oh, I’m fine!” Niall assured her, waving his hand like he’d seen Russ do. “I just need a good night’s sleep and some supper and I’ll be back to normal!” 

“Right,” said the girl. “How about I take you home, then?”

Oh. Niall hadn’t known Russ _had_ a home. He’d just assumed he was some kind of vagabond urchin. Or maybe she just meant the place where he normally slept. Like an alley or something? Or maybe another shelter. Niall nodded. “That would be very nice of you, thank you.” 

The girl took his arm and started walking Niall down the street, turning a corner. “How’d you fall? Were you playing portal ball? I heard there was a game today.” 

Niall shook his head. “I just slipped. Nobody ever cleans the…fucking streets around here, so there was ice, you know?” He had to hold in a giggle as he said that so he didn’t give away that he didn’t normally say words like that. 

The girl looked at him a bit funny. Maybe even poor people weren’t supposed to use curse words around girls, or maybe girls had their own secret naughty language and so she didn’t know that was a bad word? “I guess. It’s not really like you to fall.” 

Niall shrugged. “Anyone can fall,” he said, slightly defensive. 

“I guess.” 

That was all she said, which was too bad, because she was pretty. But it also sounded like she had a suitor already and he was probably some huge street tough who wasn’t very nice to her. Maybe if Niall got to meet him this week he’d help her see the light, and then she could court Russ when they switched back. That would be a nice thing for him to do. 

He wouldn’t even try to kiss her or anything. That would be rude. 

It wasn’t that long before they got to the building that must be Russ’s house, though it seemed like an inn. Maybe he slept in the stables here or something? He hadn’t said anything about working at an inn. “Here you go,” the girl said. “You rest tonight, okay?”

Niall nodded, thinking about how nice it would be to have a bed to himself again. “I will. Thanks for being so nice.” 

“Where the fuck have you been?” 

Niall jumped at the loud voice, turning to see a muscular man with a silly moustache coming out of the inn. “Excuse me?” he asked. 

“Excuse yourself, you little slut,” the man said, grabbing Niall’s arm. “You can fuck off from work one night, but you come back in the fucking morning, you know that.” 

“I…” Why hadn’t Russ told Niall that he had a job? Niall could have waited tables or whatever he did here. Had he been trying to get Niall in trouble?

“Thanks for bringing him back, Siobhan,” the man told the girl. 

“Go easy on him, Gil,” said Siobhan, who didn’t seem bothered that Niall was being manhandled like a disobedient camel. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t Russ’s suitor. And a good thing Niall hadn’t wanted to kiss her. “He says he fell and hit his head. I think he’s telling the truth, he seems a bit confused and he’s not acting like himself.” 

Gil sighed, looked down at Russ. “You hurt yourself? You okay?”

Niall nodded. “I’m fine. I just need to rest for a bit.” 

Another sigh. “Fine. You still have to work tonight, but I’ll get Doggy to take a few of your clients. You’ll need to square it with him tomorrow.” 

Niall wanted to giggle at the fact that there was someone named Doggy, but he just nodded. “Okay.” It would be fun to find out what a job was like. How hard could it be to take food to tables?

“Thanks, Siobhan,” Gil said, and he pulled Niall into the inn, which didn’t look at all like Niall thought an inn would look. It was full of long couches and people in scandalous clothing leaning in to talk to each other. There was a black dog sitting on one of the couches licking someone’s face, which didn’t seem very clean to Niall. Was this what poor people did for fun? Didn’t they know about reading? When Niall was king he was going to put a stop to this and make sure that everyone wore clothes, even if his uncle said it was perfectly normal for people to undress around each other. 

Gil pulled him past all of those people though, and up a set of stairs, taking him to a room. “I hope you’re not hurt,” he said kindly, maintaining a firm grip on Niall. He must be Russ’s father or uncle or something. Uncle Nolan sometimes held Niall’s wrist about this strongly, though not usually his upper arm like this. “But your big client is going to be here soon and you know you can’t leave him waiting.” 

“Uh…right,” Niall said, pretending he understood. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out. “I’m really very sorry. I wasn’t trying to inconvenience you.” 

Gil gave him a strange look. “You are talking funny, aren’t you? Were you playing rich boy up the hill? Trying out for the troupe again?” 

“No, I was…”

“Doesn’t matter.” Gil opened a door and they went into a bedroom together. Russ’s bedroom was bigger than Niall had expected it to be, spacious and with a big bed that looked pretty soft. There was a big armoire in the corner, and a vanity with makeup on the desk, though Niall didn’t think Russ had been wearing makeup when they met.

“Take your clothes off,” Gil said, letting go of Niall. “You don’t have much time and I need to get you ready.” 

“R-ready?” Niall asked, looking down at Russ’s clothes. They _were_ a bit scruffy to be representing this establishment. Or any establishment that wasn’t a haystack. He slowly started unlacing his shirt. “Just remind me what I have to wear,” he said. “I can do it myself.” 

“No you can’t,” Gil told him, waving at Niall to get undressed. Did Russ…often undress in front of people? Niall supposed that poor people didn’t have servants to help them do their laces and ties. Maybe they just all helped each other dress. That made sense. 

Okay. Well as long as he pretended like Gil was his uncle, it wasn’t that big a deal for him to take his clothes off, right? So Niall took off his shirt, and then started unlacing Russ’s pants, wishing that his hands weren’t shaking. It was no big deal. He couldn’t give the whole deception away by not wanting to take his pants off. Gil was probably like Niall’s servants anyway. He wasn’t going to look. 

Still, Niall slid his pants down and left Russ’s scratchy smallclothes on, sitting down on the bed to unlace the soft boots, the one thing he’d refused to switch with Russ, which he ended up getting tied in a knot. But he managed to lever them off, falling back on the bed. 

Gil grabbed his wrist. “Hey!”

“I don’t have time for you to dick around, Russ,” he said, pulling Niall up the bed and tying a rope around his wrist. 

“What are you doing?”

“Client’s instructions. He wants you tied up and blindfolded tonight.”

“What? You can’t do that!”

“Oh, calm down. It’s just Norris, Russ. He worships you, he’s not going to do anything. And I’ll have the second door open just in case.” 

“But…” Gil grabbed Niall’s other hand. He tried to fight back, but Gil was too big and strong, and he got Niall tied up, avoiding his legs when Niall tried to kick him. “Stop!”

“You fucking stop, Russ, what’s wrong with you?” Gil gave Niall a hard pinch, then batted his leg aside and ripped his smallclothes down, leaving him naked. 

“What’s wrong with _you?_ ” Niall demanded. “What are you doing?”

Gil sighed, and punched Niall in the stomach, making Niall gasp for breath. “You know what? I was going to stretch and oil you, but I think you can just suffer. Here.” While Niall wasn’t struggling, he put a blindfold on him. And then gagged him. “He didn’t request the gag, but since you’re being a little asshole I think you need it.” 

Niall struggled against the bonds, against the blindfold, against everything, thrashing on the bed, but he couldn’t do anything, and Gil tied his legs to the bed too. “Have a good night, Russ.” 

And he left Niall there, naked and alone. 

What _was_ this? Who would do this? Who would treat someone this way? Niall tried to get away but couldn’t, he tried to break the ropes or reach them so he could untie them or something, and he just, he just couldn’t!

He went still when he heard the door open a second later. Someone came in. Niall tried to call for help. Maybe this person would help him. 

Instead, a hand slid down Niall’s chest, giving him goosebumps. Then it stroked his face, his hair. The hand touched him everywhere, his chest and belly, his sides, his penis. It spent a long time there, squeezing and rolling him, touching Niall thoroughly, and Niall couldn’t do anything but whimper. When he got back to the castle he was going to have his father and uncle come to the East Quarter and arrest _everyone_.

For now, though, the hand retreated. Niall sighed in relief. Maybe whatever sick game this was was finally over. Russ had thought this would be a funny trick to humiliate the crown prince. He was going to get what was coming to him as soon as Niall got home. 

But then it came back, and it touched Niall somewhere else. 

Niall tried to scream through his gag as the hand touched his backside, but it didn’t matter. It touched him, two fingers, something wet and slippery on them. And they pressed inside Niall’s butthole no matter how much he tried to get away from it, the ropes keeping him firmly in place and forcing Niall to be…to be violated by this, this horrible, disgusting, dirty stranger who just kept pushing his fingers further and further inside. Couldn’t he hear Niall screaming behind his gag? Didn’t he care that this was _hurting_ Niall?  
“Shhh…” said the stranger, his other hand on Niall’s cheek. It was a strangely familiar gesture, one that made Niall relax, just for a second. Just long enough for the fingers to push in even further. He felt goosebumps and sweat and he felt _those fingers_ and Niall…Niall couldn’t do anything. 

The hand left his cheek, and took Niall’s penis, started rolling it, squeezing it. “Shhh,” the man said again, squeezing Niall gently, almost like he cared, even though this was all his fault, even with his fingers sliding in and out of Niall. Niall couldn’t do anything. He had to lay here and let it happen. 

Niall whimpered, starting to cry as he felt himself get hard. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this. He didn’t want this. But it just kept happening, it kept happening no matter what he wanted, even though Niall was a _prince._ This wasn’t supposed to happen to someone like Niall. He wasn’t supposed to be touched like this by some horrible, smelly, evil commoner whose base desires ruled everything he did. He was supposed to…

The fingers retreated all at once, making Niall sob behind his gag. It hurt when they pulled out, almost as much as when they’d gone in. But at least it was, at least it was…

It wasn’t over. The man climbed on top of him, his hand still palming Niall’s penis, and he…

Niall screamed behind his gag, the pain in his throat nothing as something far, far worse than fingers was pressed inside him, as his body was penetrated by something thick and hard and he didn’t even want to _think_ about what it was, even though he _knew_ , because this wasn’t something that was supposed to happen to…supposed to happen to Niall…supposed to happen…

This wasn’t something that was supposed to happen to anyone. Not to Russ, not to Niall. Not to anyone. How could this…how could this…

Niall didn’t know how long it lasted. The man, the stranger, he just kept…doing that to Niall. For a long time. Violating him. _Using_ him like his body was a _thing,_ like it was just there for someone to use, and Niall…

“Shh…” the man said, touching Niall’s face again. He was sitting beside Niall on the bed. He’d stopped. When had he? “Shh…you’ll be okay.” 

Niall…did Niall recognize that voice? He thought he did, or should. But he didn’t recognize anything. All Niall recognized was pain and this feeling, this horrible feeling that he was broken and used and dirty. The voice was lying to him. He’d never be okay again.

And then he was gone. Niall sighed, relieved that it was over, finally over. He was alone. He could finally…

He wasn’t alone. Footsteps in the room, Niall barely heard them. Was it Gil? Coming back to untie him, to…

No. A coarse hand touched Niall’s thigh, his face. “Heh,” said a rough voice. “Gil was right. He’s all ready for us.” 

And then another man was on top of him, touching him in the same way, rougher. And then pushed…pushed into him in the same way, but so, so much worse. So much harder, and more painful, and Niall started to cry again. 

There were other men in the room, talking to each other, excited, happy. Happy to be using Niall, to be here in this room to do horrible, base, disgusting, inhuman things to someone who’d never done anything wrong in his life. 

And Niall couldn’t stop them. Even if he weren’t tied to the bed, Niall couldn’t do anything to stop them. 

They used him, more and more men, in sequence for the whole night. And Niall couldn’t do anything.


	4. Sometimes People Know Things They Don't Say Until It's Too Late

“I don’t want to hear about you being rude to your tutor or anyone else again, do you understand, son?”

Russ nodded, not making eye contact with the king, which seemed to be what he wanted. He didn’t look much like Niall, much thicker and with straighter, lighter hair, the angles of his face different. Russ could believe they were father and son, but Niall must have gotten most of his looks from his mom. “Yes, father. I understand. But I don’t want someone else to be whipped in my place anymore. If I misbehave, _I_ should be punished for it.”

King Nicol looked down at Russ for a long moment, and sighed. “This is unusually assertive of you, Niall. You clearly care about your whipping boy.” 

Russ nodded. Sally was a good guy. Funny. And even if he wasn’t, he didn’t deserve to be whipped for Niall’s indiscretions, which Russ suspected were many. Though hopefully they’d be less after this week. “He’s my friend.” 

The king continued to look at Russ, and Russ had to wonder how it was possible that he wasn’t not seeing his son. He really didn’t seem to pay much attention to Niall—this was the first time they’d had a conversation in the three days Russ had been here, and it had been about Russ misbehaving. Niall seemed to spend his days just being shepherded from one task to another to keep him busy. 

He was a little shit, but Russ felt bad for him. Some time at the brothel seeing what it was like having real friends and people who cared about him would do him a lot of good. And having a bit of sense fucked into his head would do him good too. Russ had never known anyone who didn’t smarten up a little after losing their virginity. 

The king sighed, bringing Russ’s attention back to him. “Very well. But I expect your behaviour to improve. Because you _will_ be punished if it doesn’t, do you understand?”

Russ nodded. “Yes, father. Thank you.” Actually being held responsible for his actions would make Niall a better person too, Russ thought. 

They weren’t here trying to ruin Niall’s life, but Niall needed to smarten up before someone stabbed him in the eye with a rich people fork. A few small things like encouraging him to stop letting other people get in trouble for him would go a long way. 

“Okay. You can go for now, son,” the king said. Russ was a bit disappointed with him, if they were honest with themself. He was just kind of a guy, and not even a very impressive one. They’d imagined the king would be someone really different from other people, someone special and interesting, but King Nicol was just kind of a guy, like any of the guys who’d come and pay Russ for an hour in their ass, only not as hot as some of them.

Russ nodded, and hugged the king, who seemed surprised, because apparently none of these people treated each other like family. And then they left, making their way to Niall’s room. The castle was still big and cool, but Russ felt more and more like it was just a prison for Niall—and for them. Four more days and they’d be out of here. They were kind of thinking about offering to take Sally with them, which he’d probably like. 

Sally was on the floor of Niall’s room, drawing. He looked up, smiling as Russ came in. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Russ said. “Good news. I convinced my dad to stop whipping you just because I’m a little shithead.” 

Sally giggled. “Or you could stop being a little shithead.” 

“I can try.” Russ smiled, sitting on the floor. “But I can’t make any promises after the next few days.” 

“Does he have to come back?” Sally asked, looking back down at his drawing. 

“Of course he does, this is where he lives,” Russ said, looking around the stupid fancy room. “It’s his family, for what they’re worth.” 

“Okay,” Sally sighed. “Do you have to go back home? You could stay here.” 

Russ shook their head. “My family’s down there in the East Quarter. All of this silk and gold is really cool, but the _Lilac Garden_ is my home.” 

Sally nodded. “Do you like being a…prostitute?”

Russ almost laughed as Sally tried and couldn’t say the word ‘whore.’ “Yes. It’s fun. It’s hard work, but I like it. Sex is fun, and you get to have it like six times a day.” They shrugged. “Which isn’t always awesome, since sometimes you don’t want to have sex, but I’d rather have a boner when I didn’t want to than have to clean pots when I don’t want to, you know?”

“I guess,” Sally agreed, thinking about it. “Do you think Niall is enjoying himself?”

“Of course,” said Russ, smiling. “Maybe not how much work it is, but I bet he’s having a great time.” 

“If you say so.” 

“I’m the expert in sex, trust me.”

The door opened and Niall’s uncle came in, looking down at them. “Hi, Uncle Nolan,” Russ said, smiling Niall’s smile at him. 

“Hello, Niall,” Nolan said, looking at Sally. “I want to talk to my nephew.” 

Sally looked up at Nolan, then at Russ, then stood up. “Of course, your lordship. I’ll be outside.” He left the room, shutting the door behind Nolan.

Russ stood up, anticipating a hug. Nolan loved to hug Niall, and in a bit of a creepy way. But he didn’t get a hug. He got crossed arms. “I heard you had a talk with your father.” 

“Yes,” Russ said, shrugging in an imperious, important way and going to sit on the bed. “I didn’t want anyone hurting Sally anymore. So from now on I’m going to take my own punishments for being naughty.” 

Niall seemed like someone who’d say ‘naughty’ and mean it in the non-dick way.

“And you think that’s a good idea?”

“I don’t plan to get in trouble again.”

“You never plan to get in trouble,” said Nolan, coming a little closer. 

Russ shrugged. “I mean it this time.” 

“Right. Niall wouldn’t have sat on the bed when I came in,” Nolan said, tone not changing. “He’d have come over to see me. And when he sits, he sits straight, with his shoulders squared and facing the person he’s talking to.”

Russ felt a chill creep over them, and they sat straighter. “What are you talking about, Uncle Nolan?” he asked, with a stupid laugh. “That’s a weird joke.” 

“You’re not my nephew.” 

Russ glared at him. “Sure I am, Uncle Norris.”

Now Nolan looked angry, and he advanced on Russ. “What the _fuck_ were you thinking?”

“I was thinking, wow, he’s about to get tossed in a cell for being too stupid to live,” Russ snapped. “What was he even doing out there?” 

“I sent him out of the castle for his own safety,” Nolan growled. “And you took advantage of his kindness.” 

“Bullshit.” All of it was. “I gave him something to eat and helped him not get his pretty teeth knocked out. Switching places was his idea.” 

“And you agreed to it.” 

Russ shrugged. “Sleep in silk sheets for a week and not have to work? Sounded like a fun idea.” 

“And have the crown prince work in a brothel?”

Nolan was trying to be scary, but Russ had known him way too long to be afraid of him. “He’s too uptight, and weird. Getting fucked a few times will cure him of that. Besides,” they said, leaning back. “You like people who work in brothels.” 

With a smirk that Russ recognized, Nolan put a hand on Russ’s chin, running a thumb over his lip. “Just one. Take off my nephew’s clothes, why don’t you?” 

“Now, you know that’s going to cost you.” 

“Don’t have any coin on me,” said Nolan, crawling onto the bed, on top of Russ, smiling down at them. “How about a trade? You do what I want and I won’t have you arrested for kidnapping and impersonating the prince.” 

Russ snorted, hand on Nolan’s shirt collar. “Fine. Uncle Nolan.” 

Nolan shuddered at that, and Russ unlaced his shirt with one hand while Nolan’s hand slid up under theirs, stroking their belly. He felt Russ up all over, lifting his shirt and pulling it over his head, hands sliding downwards. 

“You’ve missed that, haven’t you?” Russ asked him, kissing Nolan, making him pause so they could take his shirt off too. “All these years calling you Uncle Norris. You wanted so badly for it to be real in a way I couldn’t make it real for you, for me to call you by your real name, didn’t you? Though it was never me you wanted.” 

Nolan shook his head, kissing Russ’s neck as he slid his hand down Russ’s pants. “Of course it was, Niall. I’ve always wanted you. Always.” 

Norris had always come off a bit weird to Russ, but in a pretty normal way. Even before they’d known Niall was a real person, it wasn’t that hard to figure out that a client who insisted on calling Russ by a different name and wanted to be called ‘uncle’ was obviously just desperate to fuck his real-life nephew. What Russ had never understood was why Norris didn’t just _do_ that if he wanted to so badly. 

Nolan’s kissing became more frantic as Russ slipped a hand into his pants, grabbing his raging hard dick. He ripped Niall’s pants and smallclothes down, not even pulling them all the way off. He pulled Russ’s knees up to their shoulders, moving down and diving tongue first into Russ’s ass. 

Russ had tried for years to subtly teach Nolan had to do this properly, but he’d never really listened to instructions. He was okay enough at it, but he mostly just stuck his tongue in and out, licking and making a mess. Russ smiled. “That’s so great, Uncle Nolan,” they moaned. “I love it when you do that…” 

They kept encouraging him, telling him he was doing well, that they loved it. And after five or ten minutes, Nolan got bored and let up, looking up at Russ. “You ready, little prince?”

Russ nodded, putting Niall’s smile on. “Yes, Uncle Nolan.” 

Nolan shuddered again. Wow, he had it _bad_ for Niall, didn’t he? He climbed up, pulling his cock out, barely pushing his pants down. Face to face with Russ, Nolan entered them, the worshipful look that Russ was used to seeing on their face coming back. Russ smiled up at them, encouraging. 

He was normally a slow fucker, taking his time, but tonight Nolan went fast, harder than usual, touching Russ’s face and chest, but mostly their face, around their eyes, their cheeks, lips, their hair. 

With his hand on Russ’s cheek Nolan came, leaning down to kiss Russ as he did. “Niall…”

“Uncle Nolan…” Russ moaned, not quite ready for an orgasm of their own, but reasonably close. 

Nolan always stroked them off to one after he was done, and he did that now too, getting Russ to spill all over their chest before he pulled out. And then he collapsed like he always did, laying down beside Russ and pulling them close, holding them in place. “Goddamnit,” Nolan whispered, into Russ’s hair.

Russ nodded. “Can I guess?”

“Can I stop you?”

He’d never been able to stop Russ from doing anything. “You’ve disappeared after sundown every night since I’ve been here.”

“That’s not a guess.” 

“How’s Niall doing?”

Nolan was quiet at that. 

He couldn’t see Russ, so Russ rolled his eyes. “So you had a problem with your nephew working in a brothel, but you knew he was there, waited three days to talk to me about it _and_ you’ve been going to visit him.” 

“I’ve been asking Gil to blindfold him,” Nolan said quietly. “I can’t…I can’t bring myself to tell him. He’s going to hate me.” 

Russ sighed, reached up and stroked Nolan’s back. “No, he won’t. You’re his uncle. He loves you.” 

“I raped him.” 

Russ frowned. “No, you didn’t.”

“I tied him to the bed and raped him while he tried to escape. He was kicking and screaming, Russ, he…” Nolan was crying now. “My nephew.” 

Russ sat up, looking down at Nolan. That didn’t make any sense. Rape was when someone got beat up and bashed over the head or something. Nolan would never have done that to Niall. “I’m sure he’s fine, Nolan. He was just confused by the blindfold. You should take it off him, and…”

“You didn’t see him, Russ. He’s…” Nolan was looking at his hands now. “I hurt him.” 

Fuck. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Niall wasn’t supposed to get _hurt_. “Go get him,” he told Nolan. 

“What?” 

“Go get him. Rescue him from the brothel. Bring him back here. I’ll leave through the secret hole in the wall. If he’s…” Russ looked down at their tangled pants. “If he’s being hurt, then he shouldn’t be there. I thought he’d be okay, I really did. I thought that...when I met Niall I realized who he must be, who you’d had me pretending to be all this time. When he suggested the switch, I thought that this way, he could go to the _Lilac Garden_ and my family would take care of him, and that you’d know where to find him. I didn’t want him to get hurt, Nolan, I swear.” 

Nolan sat up too, nodding. “I know you didn’t. This is my fault.” 

“Of course it’s not…”

“It is.” Nolan sighed. He started to dress. “I’ll deal with it. You just…keep pretending to be my nephew until I tell you.” 

Russ nodded, kicking the rest of Niall’s clothes off. “He’s going to be okay, Nolan.” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“Sure I do. The _Lilac Garden_ is a safe place for him. He’s going to be okay, I promise. And you’re going to rescue him.” 

“Right.” Nolan sighed, rubbing at his face with his hands. He took a long look at Russ. “You really do look so much like him.” 

“Yeah.” Russ hopped off the bed. “I’m going to have a bath. Tell Sally he can come back in if he wants, okay?”

Nolan nodded, and left Russ alone, in Niall’s big, fancy, rich, empty room. It couldn’t be as bad as he said, Russ thought. Niall couldn’t be doing that badly. Not at the _Lilac Garden._ He was fine. He had to be fine. 

And if he wasn’t, Russ would go back and get him themself, because Nolan was wrong. It wasn’t his fault.

If Niall was in danger, it was Russ’s fault.


	5. It's Stupidly Easy for Major Secrets to Get Revealed If People Just Talk

Niall just lay there, eyes open, not seeing anything, letting some man fuck the asshole like it was a thing. It _was_ just a thing, not even a part of him. He didn’t matter to these people, they just wanted a hole for their cocks, and they got it, because that was what Niall had been turned into in just a few…days? Years, probably. It had to have been years.

He’d tried to fight. It hadn’t worked. He’d tried to tell them who he was, but they’d all thought he was Russ playing a game. He’d tried to run away and Gil had punched him in the stomach and brought him back. Russ’s customers had been complaining about Niall being uncooperative, so now he was being punished by being put on a bed in a room with an open door and called the “Poor Man’s Hole,” where anyone could just come into the room and pay one coin to fuck it. 

Honestly, this was better. Niall was going to get fucked anyway, and this way he didn’t get yelled at for not doing anything. There’d been ten…twenty-five? Maybe a hundred cocks inside, and Niall…didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything. He didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel their hands on the body, hear them saying awful things to him, smell how bad they smelled, taste their cum from when they shoved their disgusting cocks in the mouth, none of it. None of it mattered. 

Niall was never going to get out of here. He was just going to exist here forever, getting fucked. It was all his body was good for anymore. 

The man inside him gripped the skinny shoulders hard, and he gave a deep thrust, then another one, and he must be squirting but Niall couldn’t feel anything. Then he pulled his cock out of Niall’s body, slapped the ass, and left without a word. 

Niall didn’t care. The figure just lay there, head on its arms. The next one would be here soon. He could already hear footsteps. 

“You’re done for today,” Gil’s voice said. Niall didn’t even have the energy to hate him. “Go get cleaned up, okay?”

Niall didn’t answer. It wouldn’t have mattered what he said anyway, it never did. Nothing he’d wanted had ever mattered. If he was done for the day maybe he could sleep, though most often when Niall tried to sleep he just ended up laying there like this, waiting for something that couldn’t happen. And when sleep did come, he woke up and he was still here, in this useless, used body, so was it even worth it?

“I’m worried about you, Russ, I wish you’d tell me what was wrong,” Gil said, but that was all he said. Niall didn’t hear him again after that, just tried to sink into the bed. That was all he wanted to do, and even though what Niall wanted didn’t matter, this time if they wanted him to move, they were going to have to move him, because he wasn’t interested in playing along. 

Unfortunately, that was what happened. Not long after that—or maybe a long while after that, Niall didn’t know—more footsteps sounded, and a face appeared in front of Niall’s. A pretty, round-faced boy with big eyes and an ugly piercing in his eyebrow. He’d come in and tried to talk to Niall a few times, as if Niall were really there to talk to him. “Hey,” he said gently, hand on the shoulder. 

“They’re really totally out of it,” a girl’s voice said.

“Yeah, Gil’s right. Something’s really wrong with them. Russ,” the boy said. “Hey, Russ. Buck and me are going to help you clean up, okay?”

Niall made the head turn away so he wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. “I’m fine,” he muttered, though it was so quiet he didn’t even hear it. 

“Yeah, you’re clearly not. What’s wrong? You’ve been fucked up ever since you stayed out all night before.” 

Nobody answered, but now a girl’s face came into view. She was angular and had long hair, which was pulled back from her face, and was wearing a lot of makeup. “It’s going to be okay,” she told him. “We’ll help you through it. Get them up.” 

“How? They’re not moving.” Oh. The boy was pulling on Niall’s body. He hadn’t noticed. 

The girl rolled her eyes. “Pick them up and carry them. Leeli’s tits, what is even the point of you?”

“Okay, okay,” said the boy. He pulled the arm up, and then the whole torso, getting underneath it. “Come on, Russ, let’s get you in the bath before all that cum dries.”

In a swooping movement, all of Niall was put onto the boy’s back, the girl making sure his arms and legs were in place, wrapping them around the boy. They didn’t dress him, but why should they? That would just cover up the only parts that mattered. 

Niall was brought out of the room and down the hall, down some stairs, maybe around a corner. Niall wasn’t paying attention. It didn’t matter. They’d put him where they wanted him to be, like everyone else. Like Gil, like Russ’s customers. Like the servants at the castle, like his father, like his uncle. They all just put Niall where they wanted him, out of their way. If only his father and uncle had known that this was an option, they could have been getting some use out of Niall—or part of him—this whole time.

There’d been a few minutes a while ago where Niall had burned with shame thinking what his family would see if they saw him like this, but he’d gotten past that feeling. So what if they did? It didn’t matter. Nothing did. Maybe they’d even fuck him too. 

They took Niall to a warm room with a tub in it, and dropped him in the water with a splash, ass first of course, the water splashing to the shoulders. “Dammit, Doggy, they’re not a loaf of bread.” 

“Sorry,” said the boy. In the corner of Niall’s vision, he was undressing, and he got in the tub too, putting an arm around Niall’s shoulders. A second later the girl was there too, also naked. It had been about five months since Niall had seen a naked girl, but he could barely work up the energy to look at her. 

“Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?” the girl asked, washing Niall’s shoulders and back. 

“Yeah, we can’t help you if you don’t. Hey!” There was a loud splash, and Niall blinked as the water hit his face. He hadn’t realized how hot the water was until it was in his eyes. That big black dog he’d seen a few times had jumped in the water with them all and was wagging its tail, panting. “Nobody invited you, Meat.” 

Meat the dog licked Niall’s face all over, and Niall drew back instinctively. “Ew,” he said, “That’s gross.” 

“Hey, an emotion!” said Doggy the boy as he scrubbed Niall’s chest and belly, moving down. “A weird one, but an emotion. Hey…what the fuck?”

“What?” asked Buck the girl. It was easier now to remember their names. The warmth was clearing Niall’s head a little. 

“Uh…this isn’t Russ.” 

“Don’t be stupid, of course it is.” 

“But look!” Doggy was holding Niall’s dick, and specifically his foreskin, which he tugged. “Look! Russ doesn’t have one of these.” 

“Uh…” Buck was quiet for a second. “Huh? Maybe it…did it grow back?”

“They don’t grow back!”

“How do you know?”

“I’m a dick expert!” 

“So am I!”

“Obviously not if you think foreskins grow back!” 

Meat the dog barked.

“You’re all so loud,” Niall said. He tried to stand up, to get away so he could go lay down and sleep, but they held him in place. “Let me go.” 

“Who are you?” Doggy asked, holding Niall by the foreskin so he couldn’t escape. “You’re not Russ. That’s why you’ve been so weird.”

“I…” Niall looked down at the water. Maybe they’d believe him if they really knew he wasn’t Russ already. “My name’s Niall. Russ and I switched places. I know it’s crazy…”

“Wait, _you’re_ Niall?” Buck asked, from behind Niall. “Like, actually?”

“Y-yes?” He knew he was stuck being Niall, even if he wished he still weren’t.

“Oh man, that’s fucked up.” 

“I never thought you were like…a real person,” Doggy agreed, looking from Niall to Meat as if the dog knew the answers. 

“Course I’m real.” Niall was pretty sure he was still real. 

“No, I mean like…” Doggy hesitated. “Russ has a client who calls them Niall. He’s been seeing Russ for years. And now I wonder if like…it’s you that he makes Russ pretend to be.” 

Niall blinked. “That’s…really weird,” he said. It made sense that people would want Russ to pretend he was someone better, but why Niall? Nobody else knew they looked alike. Unless it was someone Niall knew. “Nobody I know would come to a place like this.” 

“You don’t know anyone named Norris?” Buck asked, her breasts against Niall’s back. 

Niall shuddered. That was the name of the man who wanted him tied up and blindfolded every night. He’d stopped caring, but suddenly it was all coming back. The hot water, them being nice to him, something was making him remember why this was all wrong. He’d almost started to get _used_ to it. “No. I don’t know him. But I hate him.” 

“Norris isn’t his real name,” Doggy said, petting Meat’s panting head with his free hand.

“You don’t know that,” Buck said.

“Yes I do. Sometimes he has a servant with him. Once I was sucking the servant off while he waited and I heard him call Norris something else. ‘Lord Nolan,’ he said.” 

“N-Nolan?” Niall asked, going frigid even in the hot water. No. It had to be a coincidence, didn’t it? It had to be.

“Yeah, do you know him?”

“Does…Do you know if he makes Russ pretend to…” Niall couldn’t make himself say it. He felt like everything in his life was shifting just a little bit, like a picture looked at from the wrong angle, so that it was all distorted and frightening. 

“All I know is he makes Russ call him uncle,” Doggy said. 

Niall was suddenly grateful that no food had gone into the stomach for two days. It made throwing up a little less disgusting.


	6. Rich People's Parties Aren't Really Parties, and They're Also All the Same

Niall must have been skinnier than he’d looked out there, because his clothes were _tight_ on Russ. 

Russ had a feeling they were tight on Niall too, but they barely fit into the things, and these formal silks they’d been made to wear for this party—which wasn’t even a real party, nobody was even _dancing_ —were worse than anything else they’d had to wear so far.

They were pretty sure Nolan had a lot of say over what Niall wore. And ate. And did and said and thought. The more time Russ spent here in the castle with Niall’s servants and family, the more they just kind of felt bad for Niall. It was obvious that he wasn’t in control of his own life, and Russ didn’t think they could pretend anymore than that wasn’t fucked up. 

Nolan had gone out again, both nights since he and Russ had talked. And he hadn’t come back with Niall. And now here he was at this party, over there talking to some young guy with the kind of triangle beard people from Barnt liked. Russ was pretty sure that every person from Barnt didn’t like the same thing, because it was a whole city as big as Hazent and the clients Russ had had from there had all been pretty different and told them different things, but they’d also never met anyone with that beard who wasn’t from there, so there was that. Anyway, Nolan had been talking to that guy for a while now, and he’d been talking to someone else before that, and before that, and before that, and since that was obviously what rich people did at parties, Russ had to assume he was having fun. And it was pissing Russ off that he was here having fun instead of going and getting his nephew. 

Maybe Niall was fine. Maybe Nolan had gone and found him fine in the brothel and not needed to bring him back. It was tomorrow night that Russ and Niall were supposed to switch back anyway, so maybe it didn’t matter. 

Or maybe Nolan had decided he didn’t care if he hurt Niall. Maybe he was finally getting what he’d wanted from Niall for Niall’s whole life, and was happy with that. 

Russ needed to know, because if Niall was being hurt, they needed to go get him now. They’d waited long enough for Nolan to develop a conscience, and that had obviously been a mistake. And so Russ downed the cup of wine they were holding, taking another one from a passing servant. 

“Excuse me, your Majesty, you aren’t permitted any more wine,” said the servant.

Russ looked up at him. “Who told you that?”

“Your father doesn’t want you becoming inebriated,” the servant explained. 

Russ didn’t know what that was, but they weren’t trying to become it. They were just trying to get a tiny bit drunk. “One cup of wine never killed anyone,” they promised the servant. “If I get caught, I’ll tell him my uncle gave it to me.” 

“But…”

Russ was already walking away, figuring that a servant wasn’t going to make a scene by following a prince around. They were right about that, and were left alone. For all of six steps. 

“Prince Niall,” said a man of about forty, plump and with the kind of clean shaven face that would have looked better with a beard. “You’re looking as regal as ever.” 

Russ smiled Niall’s smile at Marquis Finnley hee-Neart. Sally had given Russ a quick course on who everyone at this party was by standing beside them and pointing out everyone important as they’d come into the room, but Russ already knew the marquis. They hadn’t known he was a marquis, but they also didn’t really know what a marquis was, so that hardly mattered. Unlike Nolan, Finnley didn’t use a fake name when he visited the _Lilac Garden_ to spend time with a whore who looked like the crown prince. 

Aside from him and Nolan, there were two other men and one woman in this room who were Russ’s clients. Russ wondered if they were all as in love with Niall as Nolan was, or if they just thought it was funny to pretend their future king was for sale. Either way, once Russ told Niall about them, it should make his time as king easier. 

Russ didn’t normally rat on their clients, but they felt bad for Niall, who clearly needed a lot of help.

For now, though, Russ just kept smiling at the marquis. “Thank you, Marquis. You’re looking especially fastidious tonight.” Russ didn’t entirely know what that word meant either, but a bunch of people had told them they needed to be it, so it was probably something rich people liked. 

Finnley blinked, smiling down at Russ as if he were any taller than Russ when they were on their toes. “Thank you, your Majesty. I was wondering if you might be willing to consider gracing my home with your presence one afternoon in the coming weeks? My Flynn’s tenth nameday is coming up and it would mean ever so much to him if you could come by and wish him well, even if only for a short time…”

This seemed exactly like the kind of princely thing that Niall would do, so Russ nodded. “I’m sure I can do that, Marquis. I would appreciate it if you could remind me in a week, just so I don’t forget?”

Finnley seemed taken aback. “Ah, yes. I can assuredly do that, your Majesty. Thank you so much, Flynn looks up to you ever so, and I know he’ll adore being able to see you in person.” 

“Bring him with you next time you meet with my father,” Russ told Finnley. He was the king’s finance minister, and there was nothing rich people cared about more than money, so they probably talked all the time. As far as they could tell, Niall didn’t have any friends. Flynn was a good amount younger if he was ten, but it was a start. “I can give him a tour of the castle walls.” 

“Oh. My, that would be wonderful,” said Finnley, bowing just a little. It was really something, how differently he talked to Niall than Russ. Not that Russ had expected him to call Niall a filthy slut who deserved to live on his knees in public, but the whole tone of his voice was softer, kinder, than Russ was used to. “Thank you, your Majesty, I am most grateful.” 

Russ nodded. “It’s the least I can do. Listen, I have to go talk to, I mean converse with my uncle. Enjoy the rest of the party.” 

“And you as well, your Majesty.” 

“Tell Carlyle I said hi,” Russ said, patting Finnley’s arm as they went by. Carlyle was Finnley’s dog, who obviously had been too friendly to be invited to the fancy party. 

Nolan was now talking to a tall lady in a white dress, but Niall was a prince, so Russ didn’t feel too bad about sidling up to him and interrupting. “Excuse me, Uncle Nolan,” they said, smiling at the woman, whose name was Bethan hee-Arke. “Could I speak with you for just a second? It’s important.” 

Nolan looked down at them, and specifically at their cup. “How much wine have you had, Niall?”

“Not enough. I’m very sorry, Countess,” they said to Bethan, who they guessed was good at counting, which made them wonder why she wasn’t the one in charge of the money. “I’ll bring Uncle Nolan back to you in just a second.” 

“Of course, your Majesty,” she said, inclining a strong head. She wasn’t one of Russ’s clients, which was too bad. She seemed like someone who would give good spankings. “I can wait a moment.”

“Thank you.” Russ took Nolan’s hand and pulled him aside, waiting until they were just out of hearing. “How’s Niall?”

“Is this really the time to do this, Russ?”

“No, it’s not. The right time was two days ago, before you started avoiding me.” 

Nolan hid his glare well, better than Russ. “Niall is fine. I think he’s adjusting to the brothel, actually. He just needed a bit of time.”

“That’s not at all what you said the other day.” 

“I was upset the other day. I exaggerated. There’s nothing to worry about.” 

His voice was soothing, calm, like he was talking to a baby. “Does that work on Niall?” Russ asked, genuinely curious. “When you tell him there’s nothing to worry about, does he agree with you and turn around like a good boy for an ass patt?”

“It’s a lesson you could do to learn from him,” Nolan said, tone warning now. 

“Obeying you without question?” Russ snorted. “You don’t pay me enough for that, sorry.” 

“You don’t need to worry. I told you I have a plan.” 

“I don’t believe you.” 

Someone, several someones, shouted from over in the centre of the room, and Russ turned to see the commotion. Someone had fallen over, probably just because they’d drank too much or…

“The king!” someone shouted. Guards were hurrying to the fallen person. “Help the king!”

“Oh,” Russ said quietly, also moving that way. Nolan grabbed his wrist. “Let go, uncle.” Russ let their voice go shrill, like they imagined Niall’s did when he got mad.

“It’s better if you stay here.” 

“Fuck that,” Russ snapped, breaking Nolan’s grip and hurrying over to the king. He was lying on the floor in a circle of people, breathing shallow breaths, some guards helping him recline. He had a white ring around his lips, and his tongue was white too. “Call a doctor,” Russ said, seeing that. “Did someone call a doctor?”

“The prince is right,” said Nolan, behind him. “Summon a physician at once. My brother has fallen ill.” 

Russ didn’t think there were any diseases that would suddenly turn the tongue white. “He’s been poisoned.” 

“Don’t be foolish, Niall,” said Nolan. “There’s no need to make this worse than it is. Your father is merely sick.” 

“No,” said Russ. They looked up at Niall’s uncle. _I have a plan._ “You poisoned him.” 

A gasp went through the crowd, and Nolan hung his head. “Of course I didn’t, Niall. I know you’re upset, but…”

“I’m not upset, I’m saying you’re trying to kill the king,” Russ said, forgetting to sound like Niall as they stood.

“Of course I’m not. The physician is on his way. For now, guards, if you could take the prince to his room. He’s obviously very worked up and I think some rest would do him well.”

“Don’t listen to him!”

But the guards did listen to him, pulling Russ away from the king, whose eyes tried to flutter open and failed. “You can see your father in the morning,” said Nolan, as Russ was dragged away. “I’m sure he’ll be feeling better.” 

“Let me go!” Russ demanded. “Stop touching me, you leaking ballsacs! He’s lying to you, you bunch of cock-brained cum spitters! Let me go!”

They didn’t let them go, physically pulling Russ out of the room and into the hallway, no matter how much Russ kicked and screamed. It took five of them, but they did it. Russ wasn’t going to win this, not against this many of them. 

So they stopped fighting. “I want to see Sally,” they said. 

“Your Highness, Lord Nolan wants you to go to bed,” said the lead guard. His name was Anton, Russ was pretty sure. They’d been trying to learn the guards’ names. There were a lot of them. 

Did he work for Nolan or was he just stupid? Russ wasn’t sure, but they took a gamble. “If you don’t go get Sally, I’ll stay up all night screaming and banging on the door,” they threatened. “And I won’t forget this. I’ll have you fired, Anton. And your daughter in the kitchen, too. Let me see my servant for ten minutes and I’ll behave.” 

Anton looked alarmed for a second there, and Russ got that. He’d figured Niall wouldn’t do anything to him because Niall didn’t know who he was. But Russ did. He hesitated, looking around. “You promise to be quiet?”

“Promise,” Russ said, giving a nod. “Please.” 

“Go find the boy,” Anton told one of the other guards, who headed off. Russ sighed. “Now come on, no more yelling.” 

Russ nodded, and quietly let the guards walk them back to Niall’s room. “I’m sorry,” they said to Anton at the door. “For threatening you. I know you’re just doing your job.”

“Don’t worry about it, your Majesty. You’re upset about your father.” 

“That’s no excuse to be a bad person.” Russ sighed, pushing the bedroom door open. 

“He’ll be okay in the morning.”

“No, he won’t,” Russ said. “He’ll be dead in the morning.” 

They looked at each other for a second, and Russ sighed. “I’m going to get ready for bed. Send Sally in when he’s here.” 

Anton nodded. “Yes, your Majesty.”

The door shut. Russ didn’t get ready for bed, pacing the room restlessly, telling themself they could breathe just fine, no matter what their tight clothes were making them feel. They hadn’t thought Nolan was capable of any of this. He was creepy, sure, but Russ had known him a long time, and they’d never gotten the impression that Nolan was cruel. 

But he was going to murder his brother and count on the fact that his nephew wasn’t smart enough to see through it. And then, Russ stopped pacing, and then, Nolan would rule through Niall. That was his real plan. 

A minute or so later the door opened, and Sally slipped in. “Are you okay?” he asked, rushing over.

Russ hugged him, shaking his head, happy to have another person to cling to. “No,” they whispered. “Nolan’s trying to kill the king and he’s got me locked up in here.” 

“He won’t…Lord Nolan wouldn’t hurt you.” Sally paused, looking up at Russ. “Right?”

“No, he won’t,” Russ agreed. They didn’t know that, not anymore. “But he’s already hurt King Nicol. I need you to do something for me, Sally.” 

“What is it? I’ll do whatever you need.”

“I need you to go through that secret passage I told you about,” Russ told him. “And I need you to go to the East Quarter and find the _Lilac Garden._ And I need you to find my friends Buck and Doggy and tell them what’s going on. And then I need you three to rescue Niall and bring him back here.” 

“What…I can’t…” 

“Buck and Doggy will be able to help you, I promise,” Russ said. 

“That’s not the problem! I’m not going to help…”

Russ sighed. “You hate Niall, I know. He was horrible to you. But Sally, if he doesn’t come back right now and make sure his father gets seen by a real doctor who isn’t Nolan’s lapdog, the king is going to die. Niall’s being hurt down there, and he’s going to be hurt even more after Nicol dies if we don’t help him, because there won’t be anyone to protect him from Nolan.” 

“I don’t care about…”

“How do you think people like Nolan get like this, Sally? He’s playing a monster because that’s what works up here, that’s the only way he’s learned how to win. Let’s prove him wrong. Let’s show Niall that this isn’t just wrong, but that it doesn’t _work,_ either. He’s going to be king someday, but he doesn’t have to be a shitty one, and he doesn’t have to lose his father like this.” Sally was looking at the floor, and Russ tilted his head up so they could look at each other. “I know you hate him. But he doesn’t deserve this. And you’re a good person, so you know that.” 

Sally squeezed his eyes shut. “I know,” he whispered, a tear leaking down his face. “Crap. Okay. I’ll go get him.” 

“Thank you,” Russ said, relief flooding them. They kissed Sally’s forehead. “You’re such a special person, Sally.” 

Sally nodded like he didn’t believe that. “Be careful. If Nolan is really that dangerous, I don’t believe that he won’t hurt you too.” 

“I can handle Nolan. You take care of yourself, okay? Don’t go through Yart’s Square, go around it. Watch out for ice patches, stay on streets that have lights on them. Once you get to the East Quarter, don’t ask the city guards for help. Tell people you’re my friend and they’ll help you. Promise. “

“Okay.” Sally swallowed, stepping back. “I’ll see you soon, Russ.”

“Yeah. One question. Castles have secret passages and stuff all over, right? Not just on the outside? Is there one in this room?”

Sally hesitated, just for a second. And then pointed at the big vanity in the corner where Niall’s makeup was kept. “Behind the mirror.” 

Russ smiled. “Thank you so much, Sally.”

Sally nodded again and hurried out of the room, leaving Russ alone.

Russ sat down on the bed for a second, head in their hands. Crap. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. 

But that was all the pity they had time for. They got up, started to take off Niall’s tight party clothes so they could put something marginally more comfortable on. 

It was going to be a long night.


	7. It's Always Just When You Get Into the Swing of Things that It's Time to Go Home

Niall couldn’t do this.

“You can do this,” promised Doggy.

Niall could not, in fact, do this, but it was very nice of Doggy to have confidence in him. Doggy and Buck were both very nice people, once Niall looked past their place of employment. 

No, Niall shouldn’t think like that. It wasn’t their fault they were prostitutes. They were poor and had to do some kind of job so they could buy food for themselves. And even though Niall was sure there were many other, better jobs they could be doing, they probably didn’t know that. And they were being very nice to him, and they were the _only_ people being nice to him, so Niall should keep being nice to them so that they wouldn’t stop and leave him by himself. 

“I don’t think I can,” he said to Doggy, looking down at what he was…dressed in. Or not dressed in. He had three shirts on and none of them covered his stomach, and his pants were actually just some pantlegs attached to a belt, leaving his smallclothes on full display. And his smallclothes were sheer in the front and didn’t cover his ass at all. “Can’t I at least have more clothes?”

“Sure,” Doggy said, like he’d said every other time Niall had asked for more clothes. He went over to Russ’s cupboard, pulled something out, and came over. He put a small hat on Niall’s head, tilted to the side a little. “There we go, perfect.” 

Niall glared at him. “That isn’t what I meant.” 

“What? You’re hot, and not just because you look like Russ. I’d fuck you. I wouldn’t even charge. You’d fuck him, right, Buck?”

Buck had just come in the room without knocking, and even in a brothel Niall thought that was a bit rude since she was a girl. But he didn’t say anything, and Buck came over to him, looking him up and down. She undid one of Niall’s shirt buttons, leaving him with only one. “Yeah, I’d fuck him. He’d have to lose the scowl, I think.” 

“I don’t know, I think the scowl is sexy. I bet if he went full prince on everyone, he’d make a ton of coin. Lots of people are into being treated like shit, you know? Hey Niall, tell me I’m a worthless piece of garbage.” 

Niall blinked. “Why would I do that?” Doggy was nice. 

“See, he’s got the perfect tone,” Doggy said, hopping in place. “Please, just do it? Say it like you really mean it and I’ll give you some more clothes to wear.” 

“I…” Whatever, Niall gave up. He was playing along with all this because Doggy and Buck seemed to know what they were talking about and they said it would work. What was the harm?

Any harm that could be done to Niall had already been done. 

Niall glared at Doggy. “You,” he said, pointing at him, stopping just short of touching his chest. “Would be lucky to be my garbage. I wouldn’t even let my _servants_ touch you, you worthless little pustule.” 

“Oh,” said Buck quietly. Doggy was staring at Niall, eyes wide. 

Niall blinked again. “What? I was only doing what you asked. I don’t really think that.” 

“No, I, I know,” Doggy said, shaking his head. He took a breath. “Wow. I’m just saying, if you get tired of the prince thing and decide to come work here for real, you’d still be rich. Fuck, _I’d_ pay you to treat me like that for a night.” 

“Same, and I’m not even into that shit,” Buck agreed. 

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Niall explained. He understood that it was a sex thing, because it was _always_ a sex thing with these two. But he didn’t know what the sex thing was.

“You’re just making us horny,” Buck told him. “Don’t worry about it. As far as I know, Norris…I mean Nolan isn’t into that, so it’s not going to matter tonight. He’s going to be here soon, we have to tie you up.” 

Niall’s stomach clenched, the supper they’d made him eat feeling heavy and not just because of how much fat had been in it. “I…maybe there’s something else we can do.”

“You know there isn’t,” Doggy said, hand on Niall’s now. “I know it’s hard, but this is the only way you can confront him. If you’re not tied up when he comes in the room, he might just run.” 

Niall did know that. This was the only way he was going to get answers out of Nolan. He just had to…let Nolan touch him. Again. Part of him would rather die, but a bigger part of him was smart and knew this needed to happen. 

Buck and Doggy had helped Niall so much the last few days, helping him get back to himself and do what he had to do. Niall wasn’t okay, he was nowhere near okay and he was never going to be okay again, he was pretty sure. But he could stand up and feed himself and get dressed—or he could get dressed if there were any real clothes around here—and that was enough. He’d even been able to…handle Russ’s clients, to pretend to be Russ. He knew he’d done a bad job because none of them had seemed happy after, and Niall himself had thrown up each time he was done, but at least he’d done it.

And now he was going to do it one more time. “Okay,” he said, and he went to sit on the bed to hide the fact that his legs were about to give out. “Okay.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Buck promised him, getting the ropes while Doggy found a pair of gloves for Niall to wear. They’d convinced Gil that they could tie Russ up tonight. He was pretty sure Gil only agreed because he’d wanted his most important client to be satisfied, and even he’d noticed that Niall flinched whenever he was in the room. “You remember how to get free?”

Niall nodded, letting them tie him to the headboard. They’d practiced this a lot, a special kind of knot that Niall could just pull his arms out of when he was ready. When Nolan was in here. Touching him. Preferably…inside him. So he couldn’t get away. 

Niall already felt nauseous again. He shouldn’t have eaten so much. “I remember,” he said, quiet. “You…you promise you’ll both be nearby?”

“Promise,” said Doggy, ‘securing’ Niall’s feet. They were only pretending to tie those ropes to the bed posts. He came up to Niall’s head, held up the blindfold. “You’ll be okay.”

Niall nodded, feeling tears on his eyes. He shut them, let Doggy blindfold him. And was surprised when he felt a kiss on his mouth. “You’re very brave,” Doggy whispered, patting his shoulder. 

“I’m…afraid,” Niall admitted, his voice cracking. 

“I know. But you’re safe, I promise. We’ll be close.” 

“Just shout, okay?” Buck asked, petting Niall’s stomach. “We’ll be there.”

And then they got up and left, leaving Niall alone. But he felt…not alone. There may not have been anyone here in this room, right now. But Niall wasn’t alone, because they were…his friends? No, they were Russ’s friends, not his. But they were…they were here. And they were, Niall thought, the closest thing to real friends he’d ever actually had. 

He’d have died without them here, he knew that for certain. He’d have just lain there in bed until he died. They’d saved his life. And then they’d kept saving it, every night. Niall kept wanting to drift away, to let go and forget about what Russ’s clients had just done to him, or were about to do. It would be so much easier, and staying himself was so hard. But every time he started fading, he thought of the two of them, and he felt safer. He knew that he had to keep acting, keep being Russ, stay in this room and let everything happen, and he also knew that they’d help him if he needed it. He knew he could trust them to save him again if they had to. He’d never felt that way about anyone before now. 

He tried to remember that, that feeling, as the door creaked open, the familiar footsteps of Norris came into the room. Did it sound like Niall’s uncle? Niall didn’t know. He’d never listened to Nolan walking before. A hand touched Niall’s cheek, brushing him gently. It felt like any hand. So many hands had touched Niall lately. They all felt the same. 

The hand slid down, to Niall’s exposed stomach, to his thighs, around to his bare ass. It was slow, reverent, as if those same hands hadn’t touched Niall all over every night this week.

And then the hand retreated, and Nolan got up off the bed. Niall could picture it, the whole thing. His uncle, standing there, looking down at Niall. Taking off his clothes. Preparing to…preparing to…

Just as Niall’s resolve broke and he started to try and get out of the knots, there was a shout, and a crash. “Prince Niall!”

What the… “Who’s there?” Niall demanded, struggling to get free. Hands were on him, trying to untie his wrists, getting in the way as Niall tried to get out of the fake knots.

Niall pulled out of the fake knots, sitting up and ripping off his blindfold. There was Sally, his whipping boy, sweating and looking terrified. “Your Majesty!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Niall demanded, looking past him to see…yes, that was his uncle Nolan, laying on the ground. There were pieces of crockery around him and some flowers. Sally had hit him over the head with the vase of flowers from the hallway. “What is this?”

“I’m, I’m rescuing you!”

“Elln’s foreskin, what the fuck?” Buck asked, coming back in the room with Doggy. “Kid, what the fuck?”

Sally was looking at Niall. He looked scared. “Your, your father. The king. He’s, he’s been poisoned. And I came to get you. To help you. He’s been poisoned.”

“What?” Niall demanded, swinging his legs over the bed. “He’s been…” Niall’s stomach sank. “Russ,” he said. “Russ is…” Russ had tried to _kill_ his father? 

“Russ is being held captive,” Sally said, speaking all in a rush. 

“They arrested him?” Everyone seemed to _like_ Russ. How could he have done this? He must, he must think that if he did this and then had Niall assassinated, he could be king, right? But that just didn’t make any _sense!_

“What? No,” Sally said, stepping back. “Well, sort of. But Russ didn’t do anything wrong. He did.” He looked down at Nolan on the floor. “And you have to come back or else nobody’s going to help the king!”

“No,” Niall said, wrapping his arms around himself so he wouldn’t float away. “No, he wouldn’t. My uncle loves my father. He wouldn’t…”

“Like he loves you?” Sally asked, interrupting. 

Niall looked down at Nolan, feeling cold. A week ago he’d never have believed that. But now…from here he could see it. Nolan’s pants were around his thighs. Even when Niall was crying, Nolan had been prepared to…

Nolan didn’t love him. Nolan didn’t care about him. Had he really poisoned Niall’s father, his own brother? Why not? He didn’t care about any of them, just himself. If he wanted to be king, then what? Then he could...and then he’d have Niall all to himself, with nobody to stop him from... 

Niall swallowed. He didn’t feel nauseous anymore. “Tie him up,” he told Buck and Doggy. “On the bed here, with _real_ knots. And then…I need your help. I…I need to go home. And I can’t do it alone.” 

“Then we’ll go with you,” Buck said, nodding as she reached for the ropes.

“Just…like that?” Even though Niall had just said it, he was a bit surprised. 

“Yeah.” Doggy patted Niall’s back before bending over to help toss Nolan onto the bed. He took off his socks and stuffed them in Nolan’s mouth. “We’re your friends, stupid. Just like that.”

Just like that, Niall thought. 

Just like that.


End file.
